


bury me six feet in snow

by whathegeometry



Series: i love dustin henderson [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Dustin Henderson Needs a Hug, Gen, Gifted Kid Burnout, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Sad Dustin, lowkey depression?, no suicidal thoughts though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28256166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whathegeometry/pseuds/whathegeometry
Summary: dustin henderson is tired.a dustin henderson character study.tw: very brief hypothetical mention of murder and hate crimes!
Series: i love dustin henderson [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079984
Kudos: 9





	bury me six feet in snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Im_Vexed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_Vexed/gifts).



> {disclaimer: these are the duffer brothers' characters and i don't claim to own them in any way. i am not profiting off of this work.}

Life started to lose its brightness about the time Dustin turned fourteen.

He hadn't exactly had an easy time of it before then, but at least it had been vibrant. New. Exciting. At some point, everything just became more of the same.

He'd used to love going to school. Learning about the world and its history and its laws and inhabitants and his own place in it. But freshman year, as most ninth graders do, he came to the crushing realization that school is not about learning. It has never been about learning. It's about test scores and recommendations and credits and getting into a good college. And as lots of gifted kids' do after learning this, his grades began to slip. His A's became B's and C's. He didn't worship his teachers anymore, and in turn, they dismissed him as well. And so school lost its color.

His friends were still there, of course, and they were still as close as they used to be, but something was different now. As Max and Jane became attached at the hip, by sophomore year Mike and Lucas found a similar bond between them, and that left himself and Will. Not that there was anything wrong with Will, but he'd always been different. Distant.

And then he walked in on him with Eddie Corrigan.

Dustin had stepped out of the theater for the movie they'd been watching for a breath of fresh air and a swig of Max's cheap beer, and had walked into an alley only to discover Will pinned against a wall, furiously making out with the Principal's son. He'd stayed there, frozen, just long enough to meet Will's eyes for a fleeting second, and then ran back into the theater, dropping his half-finished beer in a trash bin beside the entrance.

Will hadn't been especially open with him since then. They were fine, they spoke, but never alone. Will avoided being alone with Dustin like he was some sort of ax murderer who was waiting to catch him defenseless so he could hack him to death for what he'd seen. So things were hard with his friends as well.

As much as he loved Suzie, she was miles and miles and miles away and their radio calls had lost much of their luster. Dustin had begun to find himself dreading them, and anxious for their end once they'd begun. Their relationship was hanging by a thread, and Dustin knew deep down that that thread was fraying, too. Every day he was away from her, a little bit of his love for her just... slipped away from him.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder? What bullshit.

And so, slowly, Dustin's world lost its spirit.


End file.
